Financing for Development: leave no one behind

The ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up (FfD Forum) kicked off today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The FfD Forum is an inter-governmental process with universal participation mandated to review the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (Addis Agenda) and other financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Financing of the SDGs is a key and central theme to current global sustainable development, as well intrinsically linked to our work in CBM. It is particularly relevant at local and national levels in the areas ofinclusive education, ensuring healthy lives, water and sanitation for all, gender equality, climate change, inclusive cities among other areas.

The four-day Forum is taking place from 22-25 May, beginning with a two-day ministerial segment and followed by a two-day expert segment. The FfD Forum results in inter-governmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations that are fed into the overall follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development.

The FfD process is important and unique as it is open ended, unlike the 2030 Agenda that has an end date of 2030. Moreover, the FfD Forum is not purely a UN meeting, but also includes non-UN entities, including the Bretton Woods institutions, WTO and UNCTAD indicating a shared space for collaboration with UN and non-UN organizations and institutions.

The theme of leave no one behind, especially the most often left behind, was highlighted throughout the first day, including Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs who launched the 2017 IATF Report that contains 9 references to persons with disabilities. Additionally, Mr. Tegegnework Gettu of UNDP highlighted the inclusion of the most “vulnerable” in Financing for Development follow-up.

The EU called to ensure that no one is left behind and for gender equality in financing for development and Germany explicitly included persons with disabilities in their intervention. Specifically, during the segment on inequalities and inclusive growth, H.E. Mr. Juergen Schulz, Vice President of ECOSOC (Germany) highlighted that women, children, and persons with disabilities are the most affected groups in terms of inequalities in financing for development. In addition, he emphasized the importance of disaggregation of data by disability in financing for development to adequately address inequalities.

Further, as a positive outcome of broad civil society collaboration, the CSO FfD Group also included accessibility and persons with disabilities in their intervention on gender and women’s rights. Great teamwork everyone!

I’ll end with a quote from H.E. Mr. Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, ECOSOC President, that “promises made, must be promises kept,” which is especially true to achieve a truly inclusive society and to leave no one behind.